THE COMMON FOWL. 4 1 



opinion. The laminated structure of the 

 hackle feathers, and those of the shoulders, is 

 never seen in any of our domestic breeds ; 

 moreover, the female has the throat clothed 

 with feathers, and only a space round the eye 

 bare. Nevertheless, we will not deny that, in 

 some of the domestic varieties there may have 

 been a cross with this species at some period 

 or other, of which the distinctive marks have 

 gradually become obsolete. 



This, then, is the sum and substance of our 

 knowledge respecting the wild origin of the 

 domestic fowl, of which various breeds are 

 spread over the world. Still more are we in 

 the dark as to the time and circumstances of 

 its subjugation and dispersion. We have 

 already advanced an opinion, from a casual 

 and little-noticed expression in the first Book 

 of Kings, that as early as the days of Solo- 

 mon, the domestic fowl was kept in Judaea, 

 and that it was perhaps in a state of tame- 

 ness long antecedently among the Egyptians. 

 At a late period in Judaea, the fowl, as nu- 

 merous allusions prove, was common. The 

 Saviour's words to Peter, and the lamentation 

 over Jerusalem, so full of beauty and pathos, 

 " How often would I have gathered thy chil- 



